administrative history CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS FORT MATANZAS NATIONAL MONUMENTS/FLORIDA ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY OF CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS NATIONAL MONUMENT AND FORT MATANZAS NATIONAL MONUMENT by Jere L. Krakow July 1986 United States Department of the Interior / National Park Service CONTENTS Acknowledgements / v Chapter 1: War Department Administration, 1866-1914 / 1 Preservation Sentiment / 1 Growth of Tourism-Castillo / 4 Indian Incarceration / 6 ' Maintenance And Preservation / 7 Budget And Designated Appropriation / 8 Concern For Fort Matanzas / 9 Chapter 2: War Department Administration, 1914-1933 / 13 Government Initiatives / 13 First License-St. Augustine Historical Society / 14 Caretakers Brown And Davis / 16 Commercialization / 18 Surplus Forts / 21 Stabilize And Restore Fort Matanzas / 22 Declared National Monuments / 23 Quartermaster Department Management / 24 Management Controversy / 28 Competition For License, 1928 / 31 Final License, 1933 / 36 Chapter 3: The National Park Service: Administration 39 Tenure Begins / 39 Kahler Administration / 39 Freeland Administration / 51 Vinten Administration / 52 Roberts Administration / 59 Davenport Administration / 61 Schesventer Administration / 63 Aikens Administration / 65 Griffin Administration / 67 Chapter 4: The National Park Service: Programs and Relations / 69 Interpretation / 69 Special Events And Visitors / 79 Research / 83 History / 83 Archeology / 88 Natural Resources / 91 Race Relations / 91 Chapter 5: The National Park Service: Problems And Prospects / 95 Appendices / 101 A: Proclamation by President Calvin Coolidge Declaring National Monument, October 15, 1924: Fort Marion, Fort Matanzas / 102 iii B: Executive Order No. 6228: National Monuments to Be Administered by the National Park Service, July 28, 1933 / 101 C: Name Change: Fort Marion to Castillo de San Marcos, June 5, 1942 / 107 D: License to St. Augustine Historical Society and Institute of Science, April 16, 1928 / 109 E: Superintendents, 1933 to Present / 113 F: Senior Historians, 1938 to Present / 115 G: Annual Visitation / 117 1. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument January 1916 to July 1925 / 119 July 1935 to December 1984 / 119 2. Fort Matanzas National Monument January 1937 to December 1984 / 123 H. Summary of Federal-City Relations 1819-1955 / 126 Bibliography / 135 Illustrations / 141 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Returning to a place associated with pleasant memories after some twenty years is to raise forgotten and dormant feelings. Such has been the case for the author who spent one summer as a Seasonal Ranger-Historian at Fort Matanzas National Monument and through an unusual set of circumstances, returned to write an administrative history of it and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. In the course of research and writing a number of individuals and institutions have contributed to the effort including: B.J. Griffin, Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments; Chief Historian Edwin C. Bearss and Bureau Historian Barry Mackintosh, Washington, D.C., National Park Service; first Chief Historian of the National Park Service Verne E. Chatelain; first Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments Herbert E. Kahler; Martha B. Aikens, former Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.; Chief Librarian David Nathanson, Harpers Ferry Center, National Park Service; Frederick C.K. Babb, Chief, Branch of Planning, Eastern Team, Denver Service Center; Jacqueline McCraw, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument; Robert M. Kvasnicka, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Jacqueline K. Fretweil, St. Augustine Historical Society, St. Augustine, Florida; Ruth A. Larison, Librarian, Rocky Mountain Region, National Park Service; David Nolan, St. Augustine, Florida; Professor Thomas Graham, Flagler College, St. Augustine, Florida; John C. Paige and Louis Torres, Historians, Denver Service Center; Mary Lou Weakland, National Park Service, Denver Service Center; and the staffs of Norlin Library, University of Colorado-Boulder; the National Archives and Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; and the St. Augustine Historical Society, St. Augustine, Florida. Two individuals who maintain high scholarly standards deserve special thanks for their significant contributions to this study: Jerome A. v Greene, Supervisory Historian, Southeast/Southwest Team, Denver Service Center, for support, advice and counsel from beginning to end; and Luis R. Arana, venerable Staff Historian, Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments, National Park Service, for arranging work space, access to research files, editorial advice, encouragement and in numerous other ways contributing to this effort. At the suggestion of Superintendent B.J. Griffin a final chapter has been included which seeks to identify problems foreseen by the turn of the twenty-first century. The intent is to address concerns from the past so to assist future management of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas. vi vii viii ix X The Castillo de San Marcos from the southwest, 1967. Courtesy of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument Fort Matanzas, southeast quadrant, July 23, 1968. xi CHAPTER 1: WAR DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATION, 1866-1914 When the United States assumed control of military installations at St. Augustine, Florida, during the summer of 1821, something over two centuries had already been jointly logged by the venerable Spanish fortifications of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas. Begun in 1672 and 1740 respectively, the coquina-walled structures symbolized the power and influence of the Spanish empire. For Castillo the change in management brought forth an effort to maintain and stabilize a structure needing repairs. The fortress conveyed a sense of the past, unknown and perhaps mysterious though it might be to the new managers. With rainwater leaking through the terreplein into vaults used as quarters and storage, cracks in the water battery wall and other aspects in need of preventative maintenance, the War Department as new custodian found much to occupy its attention.(1) PRESERVATION SENTIMENT Between 1821-1844 St. Augustine received varying amounts of monies appropriated by Congress with some being used at the Castillo and much going for repair on the city seawall. (2) At the same time the War Department changed the name of the Castillo to Fort Marion and defined through presidential order which specific buildings belonged to the city 1. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, "Conservation And Reutilization Of Castillo de San Marcos And Fort Matanzas," by Luis R. Arana, (St. Augustine, Florida: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, 1984), (unpublished) pp. 2-3 (hereafter cited as Arana, "Conservation And Reutilization"). A Spanish version of this paper has been published in Puertos y Fortificaciones en America y_ Filipinas, Actas del Seminario 1984 (Madrid: CEDEX y CEHOPU, 1985), pp. 171-182. 2. Ibid., pp. 4-6. 1 and to the Department.(3) Castillo belonged to the latter. From early on an appreciation for aesthetics and historical significance of Castillo de San Marcos captivated War Department officials and visitors alike. In 1833 Judge Robert R. Reid declared to Joseph M. White, the Tlorida congressional delegate, that "No one can see the castle or fort, as it is called . without admiration and regret. "(4) The construction followed classic European fortification design but the whole entity seemed destined to ruin because of neglect. Thus began an ongoing concern for maintenance by federal managers from the nineteenth century to the present. During the Civil War Fort Marion did not see action. In January of 1861 Confederate troops peacefully took possession of the post, however, in March of the following year Union forces once again assumed command. (5) When the war ended Castillo did not fit into plans for the coastal defense system. Authorities contemplated using it as a military prison; in time American Indian tribal members from the plains and southwest found themselves incarcerated there. The companion fortification fourteen miles south at Matanzas Inlet suffered far greater neglect. Fort Matanzas, visited by First Lieutenant Henry W. Benham of the Engineers in 1842, had begun to return to dust. Several cracks ran the length of the tower, tides undermined a portion of the terreplein and most of the sentry box had disappeared.(6) The resulting 3. Ibid., pp. 2-3. Fort Marion was named for Francis Marion, Revolutionary War General from South Carolina. 4. Ibid., p. 4. 5. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Structure Report For Castillo de San Marcos National Monument St. Johns County, Florida by Edwin C. Bearss and John C. Paige, (Denver: Denver Service Center, 1983), p. 256 (hereafter cited as Bearss and Paige, "Historic Structure Report," CASA). 6. Luis R. Arana, "Notes On Fort Matanzas National Monument," El Escribano, Volume 18 (1981), pp. 49, 52 (hereafter cited as Arana, "Notes"). 2 report by Benham did not result in any action; deterioration continued until repairs began in 1916. By that time the old fort looked like a low mass overgrown with vegetation.(7) A lengthy record of observations about the historical significance of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments exists for the period 1821-1914. Many observers (local citizens, politicians and military personnel) commented on the values associated with the